Thursday, September 2, 2010

True Confession Part 2

I also am a big, big fan of the word "definitely." And I must confess that "decidedly," "amazing," "voracious" and "well" as in "Well, she thought blah, blah blah" are also favorites of mine, though, I'm determined to kick the habit.

I can also be a little too snarky for my own good, which is fine in small doses tone-wise, but it's certainly not something you want to overuse. Overkill=bad, after all. Just then I resisted my urge to insert "definitely" instead of "certainly." At least I'm cognizant of it, right? That's half the battle.

Sometimes when I'm writing, I can get so caught up in the story that I lose track of time, which majorly messes with the story's timeline. While it may seem obvious, it's easy to do and something you'll want to keep track of. For instance, you can't have a character out doing some major shopping on a Monday unless you explain that she's self-employed or on vacation or something. Those little details count, and that's where a good editor (you and your trusty developmental editor who'll guide you through the process) really counts.

I'm also an obsessive editor as I go along, which many writing pros advise against. I must get something exactly right (wording-wise anyway) before I can move on to the next section. While some might not consider this an "oops," I'll admit that sometimes I'd probably make more headway if I wasn't this way. But it's a Christa trait all the same, so what's a girl gonna do?

Ok, Betsy dished. I've dished. What other writing "oops" do we need to know about?